Out of the loop

Feifei Hello, and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei and with me is Neil.

Neil Hi there.

Feifei Neil, what are you doing sitting down?

Neil Presenting this programme - like we always do - sitting in a chair.

Feifei You clearly don’t know about our new healthy working policy - no more sitting down - standing up is better for you!

Neil Oh, alright then, I’ll stand up if I have to.

Feifei Oh, Neil! No drinking coffee in the studio. Health and safety! Obviously, you missed our meeting about the new healthy working policy. You are clearly out of the loop.

Neil What? There’s a loop I have to stand in now?

Feifei No, Neil. You missed our meeting where we discussed the new healthy working policy, and now you’re out of the loop. It means you don’t have, or are not aware of the knowledge a particular group of people do have. In other words, you’ve missed out on something.

Neil Oh, I hate missing out on things. We’d better hear some examples so I can be ‘in the loop’ about this English phrase.

Examples I’ve been out of the loop since I went on holiday. I didn’t know Geeta and Bilal had got engaged!

They kept me out of the loop, so it was a shock to discover that they were moving our sales team to Birmingham!

Please keep me in the loop if you have any more discussions about the building work. Thanks!

Feifei This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. And we’re hearing about the phrase ‘out of the loop’, which describes not having, or not being aware of the knowledge a particular group of people do have. The opposite is being ‘in the loop’. But Neil, you are out of the loop.

Neil Yes, yes, yes. You’ve made that clear. I missed the meeting and I don’t know about this stupid ‘healthy working policy’.

Feifei Where were you anyway?

Neil Down at the cafe. You know, having a big fry-up. Eggs, bacon, sausages! Delicious!

Feifei So unhealthy! That’s got to stop. Come on, Neil!

Neil Where are we going?

Feifei We’re going for a lunchtime run with the rest of the team. It’s part of our new healthy working policy!

Neil Urghh! I think I’d rather stay out of the loop from now on.

Both Bye!